Canadian car sales down in June

New vehicle sales slipped 0.6 per cent in June, new data from Statistics Canada shows.

Canada's statistics agency says that 119,961 cars were sold during the month, down slightly from May.

Much of the drop was attributed to sales of passenger vehicles.

After a sharp decline at the end of 2008, car sales have been on a slow upward trajectory throughout this year, but they're still well below their recent historic highs.

An average, 119,000 cars have been sold per month this year, compared to about 148,000 in the same period in 2008. The best-ever month for Canadian vehicle sales was May 2007, when 185,471 cars were moved off dealer lots.

Passenger car sales were down one per cent to 59,038. Sales of trucks, which include minivans and SUVs, fared slightly better, down 0.2 per cent to 60,923 units.

Regionally, five provinces saw sales declines. They were down 2.3 per cent in Ontario, and 2.9 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador. The 6.7 per cent sales drop in New Brunswick was the largest decline in Canada.

Nova Scotia sales inched 0.4 per cent higher, while Quebec sales were up by 1.4 per cent. The province with the greatest sales gain was Alberta, with 3.1 per cent more vehicles sold.

Preliminary data shows vehicle sales were up about 5 per cent in July, but official numbers will not be tabulated until next month.